April 26, 2022 (MLN): The upward journey of the Pakistani rupee (PKR) against greenback continued in the second session of the week as the currency closed the trade at PKR 185.62, appreciating by 42 paisa, compared to yesterday's closing of PKR 186.05 per USD.
The rupee traded in a range of 90 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 186.30 and an intraday low offer of 185.60.
In the wake of gloomy macros, the development on the front of IMF has rekindled the sentiment of traders that gave some respite to PKR.
“IMF mission to visit in May for 7th Extended Fund Facility (EFF) review, which means arrangement delay and no funding until June,” Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan Bank said.
It may add some pressure on foreign exchange reserves unless funding is arranged from other sources, which is possible. But import slowdown due to budget should give space to PKR, he added.
From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs28.08 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee fell by Rs9.11 in CYTD, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a drop of 1.16%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 17.97% against greenback, reached its lowest at 184.44 today, and touched its high of 152.27 on May 7, 2021.
Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 7.52% since its high on May 5, 2021, against EUR. While, it has dropped by 10.23% against GBP since its high on May 7, 2021.
In addition, the performance of PKR remained satisfactory against major currencies during the month to date as it strengthened by 3.97%, 3.22%, 2.71%, and 2.05 against JPY, EUR, CHF, and GBP respectively. On the other hand, the local unit weakened against AED and SAR by 1.18% and 1.17% during the same period.
Within the open market, PKR was traded at 185/186.5 per USD.
The currency gained 91 paisa against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 236.19 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 237.1 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value strengthened by 1.3 rupees against EUR which closed at PKR 198.36 at the interbank today.
On another note, within the money market, the six-month KIBOR reached 14.10% today, marking the highest rate since February 19, 2009 (14.18%).
Meanwhile, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 11.25/11.35 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 12.00/12.10 percent.
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